Final
Louisville crushes Jacksonville St. in home opener
Nov 18, 2014 - 4:11 AM Louisville, KY (SportsNetwork.com) - Montrezl Harrell scored a game-high 15 points and seventh-ranked Louisville had no problems whatsoever in its home opener, rolling to an 88-39 shellacking of Jacksonville State.Terry Rozier added 13 points and Wayne Blackshear tallied 12 points, nine rebounds and five assists in a game Louisville (2-0) led 50-20 at halftime and was up by as many as 54 late.
"The passing was great, (as was) the unselfishness, the team play, the execution," Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino remarked. "But we were physically a much better basketball team with our size."
The overmatched Gamecocks (0-2) committed 20 turnovers and were outrebounded by a sound 60-26 margin while shooting 28 percent for the night. Darion Rackley was the lone Jacksonville State player in double figures, finishing with 11 points.
"This might be the best team we've played anywhere I've ever been," Jacksonville State coach James Green said of Louisville.
The Gamecocks were able to hang in through the game's first six minutes before Louisville's trademark pressure defense proved to way too much to handle.
Jacksonville State turned the ball over eight times during a 19-3 run that stretched a slim Cardinals' lead into a 32-13 advantage with seven minutes left in the opening half. Blackshear put up seven points over the course of the spurt.
Back-to-back buckets from D.J. Felder gave the Gamecocks some temporary momentum, but Louisville ripped off 18 straight points to take a commanding 50-17 lead before Jaquail Townser's trey in the final seconds of the half sent Jacksonville State into the break trailing by 30.
Felder knocked down a jumper to begin the second half, then the Gamecocks proceeded to go scoreless for the next 9 1/2 minutes as Louisville embarked on a 23-0 run to open up a 73-22 cushion.
Jacksonville State misfired on 14 consecutive shot attempts until Townser finally ended the drought with 9:07 to play.
Game Notes
Louisville finished with a 48-12 advantage in points in the pain and scored 31 points off Jacksonville State turnovers ... The Cardinals improved to 14-0 in home openers under Rick Pitino ... Chris Jones compiled 10 points, six rebounds, five assists and five steals for Louisville ... Monday's matchup was part of the 2014 Global Sports Showcase, a five-team, round-robin event with Cleveland State, Marshall and Savannah State also participating. On Friday, the Gamecocks lost to Marshall, which will visit Louisville this Friday.
- JACKSONVILLE STATE: 39
LOUISVILLE: 88
Final
Nov 17 8:55 PM - JACKSONVILLE STATE: 20
LOUISVILLE: 50
Halftime
Nov 17 7:51 PM - JACKSONVILLE STATE: 0
LOUISVILLE: 0
1st Half - 20:00
Nov 17 7:05 PM
Related News
- Jacksonville State vs. Auburn: 4 Top Player Prop Odds & Picks (March Madness) Mar 18
- NCAA Tournament Midwest Region Betting Primer (2022 March Madness) Mar 15
- Updated Auburn vs. Jacksonville State Odds, Spread, Pick & Predictions for 2022 NCAA Tournament Mar 14
- Auburn vs. Jacksonville State: Best NCAA Tournament Sports Betting Offers Mar 13
- College Basketball Parlay Picks for Tuesday, March 8th (2022) Mar 8
- Kentucky Coach Calipari on Chris Mack: ‘We’re All 30 Days From Bankruptcy’ Jan 28
- College Hoops Mailbag: Louisville and Maryland Coaching Candidates, More Jan 28
- Louisville Officially Parts Ways With Coach Chris Mack Jan 26
- The Chris Mack Era Was a Surprising Failure. Who Can Louisville Turn to Now? Jan 26
- Sources: Louisville Working Toward Separation Agreement With Chris Mack Jan 25
- Men’s College Basketball: NCAA Tourney Bracketology 2.0 (2022) Jan 21
- Kentucky, Western Kentucky to Play Game for Tornado Relief Fund Dec 20